Cotton named Big East Player of the Week for second time

On Tuesday, Providence College senior guard Bryce Cotton was named Big East Men's Basketball Player of the Week. This marks the second time this season that the Tuscon, Ariz.-native has been named Player of the Week, and the first time a PC player has earned multiple Big East Player of the Week honors since Marshon Brooks was named Player of the Week three times in 2011.

For the week, Cotton averaged 25.0 points, 7.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds for the Friars, who were 1-1 for the week. He also shot 7-for-13 (54 percent) from beyond the three-point arc, went 15-for-17 from the free-throw line, and played all 90 minutes in the Friars' two games, including a heart-breaking double-overtime 82-79 loss to nationally ranked Villanova on Feb.18—a game in which Cotton scored a game-high 22 points, and added nine assists and seven rebounds.

In the Friars' 87-81 win at Butler on Sunday, he scored a game-high 28 points and added six assists. Cotton was 5-for-7 (71 percent) from three-point territory and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. He leads the nation in minutes played 39.9 per game, leads the Big East in assists (5.9 per game) and is second in the conference scoring (21.5 points per game). The 6-1 senior point guard is trying to become just the fifth player from a major conference to average 20 or more points and five or more assists in a season since 2002.

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A staffer and feature writer for the late, great Inside Sports magazine, Bob Phillips has also been a copy editor for the New York Daily News and New Haven Register sports departments, and a contributor to the Connecticut Post, ESPN.com and Maclean's, Canada's newsweekly magazine, as well as countless national and international sports publications. Currently, Bob is the editorial director at Inside Connecticut Sports. Contact Bob.